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Results tagged ‘ mark derosa ’

Here are the Latest Leaders by page views across the MLBlogs Network, for 2009 to date. Will add more links shortly. Please be sure to comment on as many of these as you can, leaving your own blog’s full URL, as a great way to drive traffic to your own page.

Thanks to everyone who has joined our Official MLBlogs Twitter so far!
We’re up to around 40 followers, and it’s a great new place to promote
your MLBlog and meet other MLBloggers. Go tohttp://www.twitter.com/mlblogs or just follow @mlblogs if you already
are on Twitter. Leave your tweets and I encourage you to usehttp://is.gd to shrink your MLBlog URLs when you mention them on
Twitter. Tell your friends: It is Major League Baseball’s first Twitter
foray.

Congrats to my friend and our baseball blogging colleague Alyssa Milano. I wanted to get it straight from the horse’s mouth after reading about it in Perez Hilton’s blog, and yes, she is engaged and “the happiest girl on the planet.” We are happy for her here.

Mark DeRosa actually finished No. 12 overall in the above Latest Leaders, but since we’ve had to help pretty much disconnect that wildly popular MLBlog due to the small matter of him no longer being a Cub/blogger, we’ll just mention it here instead. Hopefully he will want to blog as an Indian.

Speaking of the Indians, pretty impressive showing by our MLB.com colleague Anthony Castrovince — fourth overall, and the team he covers for us is the Indians. Something tells me the DeRosa deal had something to do with the spike…but keep it up, AC.

Hope you have had a chance to check out Inside the Giants Clubhouse. It is written by Joan Ryan, generally regarded as one of the best writers in the Bay Area. I had the pleasure of working with her when I covered the Giants for the San Jose Mercury News and it’s cool to see her blogging regularly right here. That’s destined to be a high-traffic blog this season.

Also let me know if there is any further difficulty with getting into dashboards, leaving comments, etc. Have had a hiccup or two along the way over the holidays, it looks like. Special thanks to Hardball for showing patience while yours truly was on vacation.

Just added “p*s*ed off” to our profanity filter. We rarely ever deal with that filter given to us by our Six Apart partners, but will make changes as needed, and feel free to email if you see anything that seems obviously in need of attention there. All you need to know is that an 11-year-old made the Latest Leaders. We’ll keep it family-suited here without being overbearing about that. Apologies to the Cub fan who now has a title full of asterisks as a result, but we understand (I covered each of the last two NLDS sweeps, trust me) and we get the message without it being in the title.

So maybe you noticed that today we posted our annual report on how MLB.com’s resident Hall of Fame voters cast their ballots. I voted for three: Rickey, Big Mac and Lee Smith. I see that I have less and less company on the second of those votes, which surprised me quite a bit. I have to be honest with you. I read that article and each BBWAA voter’s reasoning, and I give big ups to my colleague and friend Marty Noble, who voted for just one guy. That is usually my modus operandi — it’s the elite of the elite — and I feel like he nailed it. Just Rickey. I still don’t believe Jim Rice’s plaque belongs on a wall near that of Ted Williams, and I think it’s disgusting if the Year 15 Sympathy Vote was the reason (it was).

Special request: If you know of any baseball hits that are mentioned in music lyrics or poetry verse or in non-baseball-book literature, can you please email the info to me at mlblogosphere@yahoo.com? Thanks. Also, always feel free to use that email account with questions/comments you would rather pose without public view.

I think the Reds are going to be a running machine and that Dusty’s guys will surprise some people in 2009. No, they have not replaced Adam Dunn’s offensive numbers. But at least five guys in the lineup are base-stealers. I look for the Runnin’ Reds to make noise this summer.

OK, here we go again. Your latest opportunity to try to out-hunt Rays Renegade to reveal the identity of all 12 MLBlogs featured in our latest 480 panel now promoted on MLBlogs.com and presented right here again:

In comments below, be the first to correctly list all 12 URLs, and be sure to state which direction the rows and columns are listed so we can follow you. The winner gets some extra publicity here at MLBlogs.

OK, just having a little headline fun there. We just lost our top 2008 player blogger now that Mark DeRosa has been shipped from the Cubs to the Indians. With any luck, he will want to still blog while with the Tribe, but as we have seen with cases such as Joe Blanton, it rarely works out that way. Just in case, rest assured that we are putting in a word with AC, our popular MLB.com Indians correspondent who blogs at CastroTurf. Mark was phenomenal as a Cubs MLBlogger. He maintained the MLBlog jointly through postseason with our excellent and longtime MLB.com Cubs correspondent, Carrie Muskat, and I can attest for how conscientious he was in wanting to be frequent and compelling. All of his posts are now marked as unpublished and it’s an Indians template…just in case. 🙂 Life moves on…

Brian Fuentes was not an MLBlogger. But we are sure that a lot of MLBloggers are going to have something to say about him replacing K-Rod as the Angels’ new closer. Just announced.

We are gradually building the list of followers at our new Official MLBlogs Twitter! Seen it yet? It is the latest way to be a key part of this MLBlogs community, and to promote yourself. Go to http://www.twitter.com/mlblogs and you can find it. If you already are on Twitter, just follow @mlblogs — and if you aren’t, then it’s (real) easy to sign up there and then go to that URL and follow us. I will be maintaining that Twitter as well as this community blog, so we now have at least three centers of social networking (also a Facebook page if you search there for MLBlogs and join up). Werbie’s there, Rock Pile Ranter, mthrilla, even Red Sox Chick (offspring of Red Sox Hen) from a past MLBlogs life! Early squatters on our new Twitter page are dominated by Red Sox fans, so others might want to jump right in — especially all of you who often complain about Red Sox and Yankee fans getting too much attention! Start tweeting! In 140 characters, just say what you’ve blogged about and be sure to paste your Permalink into http://is.gd so that you’ll have a tiny URL. (Tinier than tinyurl.com btw.)

Make sure you are all over the remote BEFORE 6 p.m. ET on Thursday. You do not want to miss the first syllable or image uttered when the MLB Network goes on the air at that time. It will make television history — forget sports and sports networks — when it demolishes the record for largest cable network launch into 50 million homes, about 20 million more than the previous high. Almost everyone will have this, and it will mesh with MLBlogging perfectly. I promise to keep asking Tony Petitti’s crew how we might be able to use the MLBlogs Network in synergy for that new world. Who knows…anything is possible. First let’s get it launched! I have written about 4,000 stories leading up to the launch of it and the latest is on MLB.com in case you have further questions. Thanks to Elizabeth in Miami from the MLBlogosphere for being a part of the main launch preview story! Oh yeah, she’s following our Official MLBlogs Twitter, too! If you’re not tweetin’ then you’re not meetin’.

UPDATED 4 PM ET TUESDAY: OK, I DECIDED ON A PRIZE. I’LL GIVE SOMEONE AN AUTHENTIC MLB CAP OF THEIR FAVORITE TEAM CHOICE IF YOU ARE THE FIRST PERSON TO POST A COMMENT CORRECTLY IDENTIFYING THE 12 MLBLOGS FEATURED WITH THUMBNAILS BELOW IN OUR WEEKLY PROMO GRAPHIC. WE HAVE A WINNER…CONGRATS TO GREG AT RED SOX RAMBLINGS. HE RE-ENACTED THE 2007 WORLD SERIES AND BEAT OUT ROCKPILE RANTER. CONTEST OVER.

In that collage above, who can list all 12 MLBlogs? Be the first person to correctly identify all of them in a comment here (feel free to include their URLs but you don’t have to) and I’ll send you an authentic MLB cap of your favorite team.

Also have to show you something very cool that I saw on the Hall of Fame Club level at Citizens Bank Park before Game 1 of the NLCS. This is in a big display case there (the broken black bat is the one Brett Myers used during his 9-pitch at-bat that rocked CC Sabathia):

I mentioned to Larry Shenk that I saw this, and how glad I was for the extra MLBlogs visibility. Then he just smiled, noting that he was responsible for it being there. Do you need any more reasons to be a regular on Phillies Insider in the comment crowd? That should tell you how influential that MLBlogger is to Philly (and all) baseball. Stop by and say hi to The Baron.

CHICAGO — Apologies for lack of entries here this week. As you may have noticed, I’ve been writing our daily overview piece for the MLB.com homepage and am currently at Wrigley with a morning flight to LAX and high probability for an all-nighter. I did want to share this:

Just chatted with Josh Rawitch in the Dodgers’ dugout during BP, and he is issuing a friendly challenge to Mark DeRosa. Josh noticed that my “Latest Leaders” traffic rankings here last week showed DeRosa’s The Pulse MLBlog No. 1 overall, followed closely at No. 2 by Josh’s Inside the Dodgers.

“I should go tell him he has a challenge for No. 1,” Josh said. I told him that DeRosa provided a pretty good NLDS start to his blog by hitting a two-run homer and then blogging about it. (Shane Victorino, too.) But Josh has a good formula all his own. No matter what he feels like posting about, he always can be the first person anywhere to post the Dodgers’ starting lineup each day, and that has been a fundamental in his postings — but only a small piece of why it’s such a great community. . . .

Making sure everyone here has seen all eight of our MLB.com postseason player blogs:

They’re going to amass some amazing traffic numbers, so be sure and leave them comments and include your full URL so that you engage a big baseball crowd. Then hook ’em.

One interesting thing about this lineup is that we now have created an amazing THREE Brian Anderson MLBlogs. The first one was Brian Anderson the former hurler, who maintained Confessions of a Left-hander. I never deleted it after he stopped due to Tommy John surgery, mainly because he was our first-ever player MLBlogger. I think that’s kind of historic in a cool way, so that’s why it hasn’t been scraped and he has the actual “name” URL. The second one is by our friend Brian Anderson the Brewers’ broadcaster. So we actually have two Brian Andersons blogging with their own involvement in this postseason.

Will try to get an updated Latest Leaders but might not happen this week. I have lots more Cub fans to interview. 🙂

UPDATED 3:09 PM ET FRIDAY: Did you guys catch the starring attraction by our own Vanessa of Flair For The Dramatic in my Yanks-eliminated story on MLB.com? There were so many Yankee stories on our site fighting for eyeballs, I don’t know how many people saw it and how many clicked the link in it to her MLBlog. THANK YOU, Vanessa … Check out Baby Paul clapping … If anyone is interested in Photoshopping a nice 480×270-pixel graphic like the one above, representing a cool sampling of the MLBlogs community by using people’s profile pics, then email it to us and you might get some special love for your MLBlog. It could be a panel in coming days on MLBogs.com….Will have maybe 15 minutes of intermittent service interruption starting around 12:01 a.m. ET on Monday for some routine maintenance. Just a quickie heads-up….Greg at Red Sox Ramblings just added a statcounter to his MLBlog’s header. Go there and make it spin, and see if you can get him into next week’s Latest Leaders. Got a statcounter? Tell us.

Want more visitors on your MLBlog? Below are the Page View leaders at MLBlogs for the week of Sept. 17-24. Leave a comment below with your FULL URL whether you are on one of these lists or not. It’s the best way to be on one, unless you’re playing second for the Cubs or have a national TV commercial running constantly. PROVEN STRATEGY!!! MLBloggers are here. Tell them in comments why to come and say hi on your blog, then build your community! Be a regular here, and be a regular commenter on other MLBlogs!

MLB PRO BLOGS

Just like his team, Mark DeRosa continues to be the top dog, as his blog has developed a very impressive following. The Dodger front office is once again keeping fans Thinking Blue and talking about the team’s run at the NL West title. Zack Hample snagged a Giambino HR and then snagged a third-place finish, while fans have stayed up to date on the latest Minor League news with the Org Report. Rounding out the Pro Top 5 is Bryan Hoch’s Yankee blog.

Allen and Jeffery over at Red State Blue State continue their run atop the fan blogger leaderboard. The Prince of New York checks in with another strong showing, while All Baseball All The Time and Confessions of a She-Fan both jump one spot. Blogging Dodgers and Baseball rounds out the Fan Top 5.

Just randomly click a bunch of these. Get some ideas for your own MLBlog. Cardinal Girl does haiku. Baseball Bats is from the same blogger who builds in Google Adsense code just in case there’s a buck to be made. The Bullpen Baker makes cookies for the A’s bullpen pitchers and blogs about her delicacies. Big Pupi and Baby Paul show that anyone can blog. Click these links, become a friend on those blogs, and they’ll be a friend on yours. Make sure you have a profile pic of yourself on your MLBlog so there’s an identity, and tell us something things about you in the bio. Add a Link List with your favorite MLBlogs, and tell those bloggers and ask if they will please link back to you. Have fun!

We have aggregated a lot of the Red Sox Nation bloggers in the main mediawall panel at MLBlogs.com, and feel free to comment here with your Permalink or main MLBlog URL so that others can find it. Also remember to put “Jon Lester” and “no-hitter” in the tag field of a post like that, so that anyone who does a tag search for those terms might find you. Some Sox fans like Arielle already mentioned it in the previous post’s comments here so scan through. Congrats to Lester and it has been a steady stream of unique MLBlogger analysis in the Most Recent Activity feed on our MLBlogs main page all last night and all today. One day soon that no doubt will be wedded more closely in various ways to our main MLB.com coverage…kind of inevitable, no? You sure didn’t need a BBWAA pass or media credential and a Fenway seat to be able to immediately write about it and have a large audience. The world sure has changed from when I was at Indiana University journalism school and newspapers ruled. I don’t think I have read a print newspaper in this calendar year yet, with the possible exception of occasionally curiously looking at a NY Times Sunday Book Review section at a Starbucks or on the lobby floor of my apartment. . . . “MLB is on the cusp of a new era,” writes the Boston University journalism student in an interesting debut post at The Truth. Yes, that blogger went with the Yankees template. So, do you agree that Joba should be able to show whatever emotion he wants after a big out in the eighth? Leave your comments there and welcome a rookie. … In case you have not found it yet, welcome the new Beat the Streak Report maintained by our fantasy staff at MLB.com. Considering the massive number of people entered in that ongoing contest and the chance to win $1 million this year, it is a given that it will have a major audience. They are waiting to answer your questions/comments on that blog so take advantage of it! … If you go to Yankee Stadium, pick up a copy of the monthly Yankees Magazine. There’s a cover story about player blogs including all the great ones here at MLBlogs, like Bengie Molina, with quotes from yours truly. … Our friend Murray Cook, MLB’s head groundskeeping consultant and one the original MLBloggers who launched on the same day this whole area did, just blogged from China about the impact of the earthquake tragedy there. I’m headed there to cover the entire Summer Olympics and am curious myself what the mood will be after that disaster. … Speaking of Olympics, Tommy just addressed the U.S. Water Polo team. … Guess you noticed that Mark DeRosa chose a permanent title for his MLBlog: The Pulse. – Mark/MLB.com

Warm MLBlogs welcome to the crew behind the scenes at This Week In Baseball, everyone’s favorite show dating back to the days of Mel Allen. They just launched Behind the TWIB Notes, and if you want to get a feel for it, go there and click on the link to listen to the classic TWIB theme. It’ll put you in a bigtime baseball mood! Leave comments for the crew, share memories of great TWIB highlights past, and be a regular on their blog.

I couldn’t resist adding the Lou Piniella Bobblehead widget to the top of this blog for a daily affirmation, and you might want to consider the same whether you are a Cubs fan or just a baseball nut like the rest of us. It is part of our ongoing Pepsi Clutch Performer of the Month voting campaign. So first of all, you should join the voting there and make yourself eligible for a free trip for two to the 2009 All-Star Game in St. Louis, and you can click “Get the Widget” on that index page if you want to go through each step. Shortcut

To place the widget like I did, click on “Grab” and then click on “Embed”. Copy that embed code and place it at the end of your Blog Description text field under your General Settings. For now, the Link Lists in our Movable Type software do not permit use of widgets as with the previous Typepad app, so that’s one place to position it. You also can simply place it within your text post, clicking on the Edit HTML icon on the far right side of your toolbar over the text field. Piniella will be there to give you a different “affirmation” each day. . . .

Welcome back to Mark DeRosa. The Cubs’ second baseman returned to blogging action over the weekend and has immediately become the No. 1 MLBlog by traffic, just inching past Inside the Dodgers. DeRosa said he will try to do this weekly, and he has invited fans to leave comments with a permanent suggestion for his blog’s title.

Welcome also to Brett Wallace. The Arizona State University standout is blogging from the perspective of a much-scouted prospect leading up to the June Draft. This is the first year we at MLBAM have offered this kind of regular perspective, added to our overall comprehensive Draft coverage at MLB.com.

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